Rough Crossings (Lyric Hammersmith - October 2007)

It is the American Civil War and slaves who were brought over from Africa dessert their masters to join the British army with the promise of their freedom. However, after the war, they find themselves in Nova Scotia, and the promise of freedom, unfulfilled. Feeling betrayed and abandoned, Patrick Robinson is his role as Thomas Peters takes it upon himself to fight for the justice of his people and travels to England to demand justice for the way they have been treated.

Set across three continents and countries, Europe (Great Britain), North America (United States) and Africa (Sierra Leone), Rough Crossings is the compelling true story of freed slaves sent back to Africa in the hope of deciding their own destiny. Based on a book by the same title and written by the historian, Simon Schama, and adapted for stage by Caryl Phillips. Directed by Rupert Goold, Rough Crossings is a play about vision, betrayal, prejudice, courage and fight for freedom at a time when slave trade was the most profitable business.

The tilting stage, which symbolises the sea and journey of the slaves to the different places they find themselves before returning to Africa, gets your attention when you walk into the theatre. The use of old Negro spiritual hymns and songs, adds a depth of humanity to the characters and helps the audience to experience their pain with them. The use of movement, scenic backdrps and video clips to represent the different transitions in the play also serve the thrilling production justice.

The cast delivers a powerful understanding of the story and of their individual characters as well as their ability to take on more than one role. Patrick Robinson (Thomas Peters) gives an outstanding performance as a charismatic character whose voice of opposition cannot be ignored. He is a man who is sure of himself and strength, and though he is seen by the others at some point as being contentious, he believes in his own self-worth. “I’m a man not an object to be cast aside once someone decides he has no use of me” as poignantly put to David George (Peter De Jersey) who serves a priest to the slaves and bring a godly perspective to the story.

While Rough Crossings is enthralling and thought provoking as it explores cultural arguments which are still deeply rooted on both sides of the Atlantic. It is also told from a multi-dimensional point of view; the Americans who lost their slaves and wanted them back, the British crusaders, who fought for the abolition of slavery and the freed slaves themselves. On the other side of the coin, it feels like an ensemble of messy acts joined together by the magnitude of the subject matter known as slave trade. If you are not conversant with the original story, it feels muddled up and takes a while to work out the point you are at with the play.

It certainly could have done with more depth as to what happened to the slaves upon their arrival in their new found African utopia. The audience is rather inundated with a succession of events as John Clarkson (Ed Hughes) tries to restore order and keep two opposing sides at peace. The White settlers who run the Sierra Leone Company and the freed slaves who want more from their home soil and feel the British Government has ignored them and fallen short on promises made. While the sum total of the story culminates in Sierra Leone, it also raises the question of what it means to be free and at liberty. Though this stage production fails to deliver on the same level of narrative vigour with which Schama tells the story in his book. It is still an imaginative and innovative attempt to recreate history on the stage.

Image: Manuel Harlan

An African Theatre Renaissance

Tiata Fahodzi, is celebrating a decade of producing work which explores the richness and heritage of theatre inspired by British-African communities. Aimed at all-inclusive British audience, the company has established itself firmly on the UK theatre landscape by continuously, placing British-Africans at the heart of its productions.

Regarded as the foremost British-African Theatre in the UK, Tiata Fahodzi, translates as ‘‘theatre of the emancipated,’’ and was founded in 1997, by its current artistic director, Femi Elufowoju, Jr, who has been at the helm of the company for the last 10 years. Born in London to Nigerian parents, Elufowoju Jr, originally trained as a solicitor before turning to dramatic arts. He worked as an actor for six years and later trained as a Regional Theatre Young Director in 1996 at Theatre Royal Stratford, before forming the company with the sole aim of addressing the under-representation of African theatre in the UK in the 90s. However, what started off as a small ambition is today, one of the most highly recognised British-African theatre companies in the UK theatre landscape. “I had a small ambition, it wasn’t huge. It was a small ambition to try and redress in my own small way, the perspective of black theatre in Britain as it existed then” says Elufowoju Jr. A perspective he believes to have mainly been that of a huge British-Caribbean viewpoint. “I had the opportunity as a theatre facilitator and storyteller to change that balance in a particular way and that’s why I formed the company” he explains.

Since its early beginnings, the company has staged 14 major productions and its play reading festival, Tiata Delights, which celebrates African playwrights, a platform for their work to be presented to the public for the first time, recently celebrated its third successive year. The company’s last major stage outing was ‘The Estate’ at the Soho Theatre in 2006, which won critical acclaim with critics and audiences alike. Elufowoju, Jr, describes his experience over the last decade as a “Huge learning curve. Running a theatre is like running a crèche; it goes beyond actually producing a play.” It is a responsibility he deems to be one that gives you the remit of carrying out certain roles; from managing personnel, keeping the artistes prepared, happy and valued, to fulfilling certain criteria’s with funding bodies, and of course, producing the work. He believes the latter, is “The most important thing because you want members of the audience to appreciate and connect with the work.”

Known for its instinctive approach and style of examining Black-British culture, its latest production is no different. ‘Joe Guy,’ written by Roy Williams, an award winning playwright and directed by Elufowoju Jr, and is showing at the Soho Theatre later this month. It explores issues of identity and celebrity, and the historical tensions and bitter prejudices, which exist between African and Caribbean communities, where young African descendants distance themselves from a unified Black Britain. On his decision to deal with a controversial subject matter, Elufowoju Jr, says “It’s controversial because people don’t talk about it. It’s sacred and almost a taboo actually” and he sees this production as “a vulgar exposure of the theme.” He hopes both British-Africans and Caribbeans are empowered because it is not meant to criticise anyone, rather, it is “An attack on both races and sensibilities due to the experiences permeating society.”

Tiata Fahodzi’s, alliance with Soho Theatre - regarded as a jewel in the West End for its choice of diverse work goes beyond a joint effort to create work for audiences and make profits. Together, they have collaborated on two productions - ‘The Estate’ and ‘Joe Guy.’ Lisa Goldman, artistic director of Soho Theatre, points out that Soho Theatre, aims to bring a balance to collaborations but admits, “We love the work of Tiata Fahodzi, and Femi’s work is always entertaining and invigorating but his purpose is deeply serious.” While she appreciates the artistic values embedded in Tiata Fahodzi productions, she also believes they are “Exploring vital contemporary themes and deep complex emotions. I think audiences respond to the richness of that experience,” she adds.

While Elufowoju, Jr, admits that the last 10 years of the company’s life has been, “An eclectic variety of exposing one’s self with its fair measure of trail and tribulation, emotions and celebrations.” He would also love to think that their latter years as a company will be euphoric times. Despite the challenges along the way, the company has been able to give back to the community for which it was created to fulfil a role by creating a platform for young British-Africans to maximise their artistic skills. Among those who have benefited from the work of Tiata Fahodzi, are Mo Sesay, Yvonne Dodoo and Nick Oshikalu. They all hold Elufowoju Jr, in high esteem because they get sense of camaraderie each time they work with him. They are in agreement about the prominent role of Tiata Fahodzi, which they believe is “To humanise the British African experience, allowing us to be seen as human beings, who have the same universal aspirations, flaws, goals and dreams as the rest of the British population” explains Sesay. Sesay and Oshikalu worked with Elufowoju Jr, on The Gods Are Not To Blame, its 2005 production at the Arcola theatre and are reunited with him for ‘Joe Guy’. Though Sesay has worked with Elufowoju Jr, on several projects, this is Oshikalu’s third time and on this occasion as an assistant director. “Femi allows me to portray human beings with all their complexities, their failings and successes,” says Sesay. Oshikalu credits the company for doors of opportunities that have been opened to him, “Personally, since working with the company, it has opened up casting opportunities that wouldn’t have come up with other companies and it has helped my personal development as an actor, and given me an amazing opportunity to try my hand at directing.”

While Dodoo, has only worked with Elufowoju Jr, once, in her role as Sola, in The Estate she has also reaped the benefits of being exposed before audiences through theatre and recently landed a role on The Bill for two episodes, to be shown in December. On his ability as a director and contribution to British-African theatre, they are fervent that “Femi is a credit to his contemporaries,” as affirmed by Dodoo.

While Elufowoju Jr, is excited about Joe Guy and anticipates how well it will be received, he is sure the future for the company is bright and he looks forward to Tiata Fahodzi’s eclectic repertoire of work which he believes will continue to enchant their audiences as well as an all inclusive British audience. “We have come a long way from our artistic mission statement, we wanted to say something about redressing” he says. Now we feel that we are at a place where we can leave the really classical indigenous forms of African theatre and now try to embrace theatre forms from both South of the Atlantic, British and Africa.” One of such future productions is its first family Christmas show, planned for 2009 at the Unicorn Theatre.

On his legacy, though he admits there are people he cannot be compared with, like the Oliviers and Branaghs, he simply wants to be remembered as “The man who allowed and found the ability for African theatre to exist within the mainstream British theatre and I want the legacy of Tiata Fahodzi not to die with my departure” he says.

This feature can also be found on the BBC London Website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2007/10/17/your_london_tiata_feature.shtml

Also featured, is an image gallery of Tiata Fahodzi's 10 years in Theatre:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/image_galleries/your_london_tiata_gallery.shtml

Image: Stephen Cummiskey

New Beginnings

Regarded as Britain’s best-known Black-led theatre company, Talawa Theatre Company is celebrating 21 years on the British theatre landscape with its first full Production in two years - Pure Gold, written by Michael Bhim, an emerging playwright, who is gaining the respect of his contemporaries. Is a renaissance on the horizon for Black-British theatre?

When you first meet Michael Bhim, you get the impression of a quiet and reserved young man. Beneath the exterior of his calm and unruffled personality, he is letting his pen do all the talking that needs to be done as part of a group of young and emerging playwrights in the UK from the Black-British community. At 26 years of age, Bhim’s first full length play, Pure Gold, is currently showing at the Soho Theatre, as a collaborative production of Soho Theatre and Talawa Theatre Company.

Together, Bhim and Talawa are putting Black-British subjects on the UK theatre landscape. Adding to his already budding list of accolades, he was recently nominated for the Meyer Whitworth Award for his short play, Distant Violence, an honour which he say makes “Me feel extremely grateful to the people with tons of experience in this field who have supported me.”

Three years ago, becoming a playwright was a distant thought to Bhim, who dropped out of College but later went back to pursue a (BA) in English and Literature. “It was the last thing I’d ever imagined myself to be. Three years ago, writing was irrelevant in my life, as was theatre” says Bhim. However, the case is now the reverse because Bhim’s second play, which he is currently developing, has also been commissioned by Talawa Theatre Company.

The journey has been a learning curve for Bhim, from the days when he was inspired to write his first play to its first reading at Tiata Delights 2006, a reading festival which celebrates writers of African heritage and organised by Tiata Fahodzi, one of Britain’s foremost British-African theatre companies. Bhim, whose roots stretch to Africa (Zimbabwe) and the Caribbean, and he is quintessentially British, delights in the knowledge that he is an avid observer of his immediate environment. Hence, it is no surprise that Pure Gold, which deals with the themes of fatherhood, poverty and family tensions, and described as a snapshot of Black inner-city life, as a father struggles to provide for his family. Bhim explains he was inspired by “The many people I lived with, in and around inner-city London, watching how our deferred dreams manifested in our daily lives.” He also drew from his personal experiences and family background while writing the script, “Growing up, there was hardly any money, lots of ambitions, good intentions and dreams but no money” he says.

Bhim, credits his life’s experiences as the pool of creative wealth, which has helped him to better understand the importance of character and dialogue in script. “We carry a wealth of cultural history in the way we speak and for me a character is about life’s experience and emotional state” explains Bhim. When he is able to fit these different factors together and imagine what it is like to live a certain way, then he can step into the shoes of the character he wants to create and find the truth.

These are some of the artistic values which were embedded in the script and attracted Pat Cumper, artistic director of Talawa Theatre Company, also an accomplished playwright and one of the UK’s most respected Black writers. “As soon as I read Michael’s play, I knew it was something I wanted to bring to the stage. He writes about the Black British experience in a way that makes it universal and powerful” she explains. The future of the working relationship between Talawa and Bhim was further sealed as Cumper admits being impressed by Bhim’s ability to bring his characters to life. “I was immediately impressed by the complexity of the characters and their relationships, and gave ordinary characters a poetic voice and observed them with great humanity” she says.

As a theatre company, Talawa has taken rest from the public stage in the last two years, gone through a process of re-structuring and is back with its vision of exploring the Black-British experience and finding the voices that tell Black-British stories. It is a period in the company’s history which Cumper believes has allowed them to go back to basics in order to return as, “Re-branded, re-focused and revitalised with a clear mission; to tell Black British stories, nurture the talent to best do so and welcome Black audiences, and audiences for Black work to our productions.”

One way Talawa is developing and nurturing this talent, is through its New Writing programme and has worked with the likes of Derek Walcott and Courttia Newland in times past. The New Writing arm of the company comprises of Talawa Writers Group, Script Development and Script Reading. Bhim has benefited from being a member of Talawa Writers Group, which offers emerging and established playwrights the opportunity to expand on their skills with key industry leaders and present their work in a showcase of play readings. “Sometimes, the best thing you can do for a writer, is to believe in their work and put your money where you mouth is” explains Cumper. This seems to have paid off with Bhim, who credits Cumper for the assistance he received while working with Talawa. “Pat Cumper, the artistic director has been a great pillar of support and encouragement. As a writer herself, she has immense understanding of how to mentor a new writer such as myself” he says.

For Bhim, whose primary aim was “to create a fresh artistic identity for the Black-British image and have people relate to the experience of the overlooked voices in this country.” It looks like his plan has worked with well respected critics like Lyn Gardner of the Guardian newspaper admitting the play has grit to it.

While Cumper and Talawa have plans to keep developing their writers and new writing through stories that reflect Black-British life, she also envisions the future of the company as a bright one with shows across London and the regions Most importantly, she would like “TalawaTheatre Company to have a solid reputation for excellence, and a loyal audience for our work and be a respected part of Britain’s cultural landscape” she explains.

For Bhim, who remembers sitting in Hyde Park not long ago with the script for Pure Gold in his hands after it had been rejected by every theatre but looks back today and is grateful for how uncompromising about what he wrote. It is not strange for every writer to desire their work is produced. As for Bhim, “I no longer worry about the things I can’t control. I’m a writer and I write, that is enough for me.” he says. “If I get the chance to share my thoughts and feelings with the outside world, it is a bonus.”

While recent times has seen a continuous growth in the rise of British Playwrights, from Kwame Kwei-Armah, whose new play, Statement of Regret will be at the National Theatre this November, to Roy Williams, also opening this October with Joe Guy, showing at the Soho Theatre and the added bonus that Pure Gold was a success. It looks like a bright future is indeed in-store for Black-British theatre in the UK.

A version of this feature can also be found at: http://sayitloud.org.uk/data/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=259&Itemid=75

Image: Talawa Theatre Company

Meetings (Arcola Theatre October 2007)

Food serves as a metaphor for the old way of life that Hugh craves. For his wife, Jean, meetings and more meetings is the only way of ensuring she climbs up the ladder in the new corporate world they couple have found themselves.

In 1980s Trinidad, the economy is booming and Hugh and Jean, a high-flying business couple, have every reason to be happy.

But when Nicholai La Barrie as Hugh meets an old woman selling traditional Caribbean food he remembers the meals his mother used to make: he realizes what is missing in his life. Starting with food, Hugh changes his whole way of life. His search for happiness leads him away from swimming pools, a speed boat and Jean.

‘Meetings’ is a darkly comic look at a generation tempted by the fast cars and fast food of the American lifestyle but rooted in a more traditional culture. Their search for an identity, torn between heritage and globalisation, is as recognisable today as it was in the 1980s.

Hugh wants the traditional things in life that his Trinidadian Culture has to offer him; Jean (Inika Leigh-Wright) on the other hand wants a slice of the economic boom in the nation.

Written by Mustapha Matura, who is regarded as one of the finest dramatist of West Indian origin; Meetings is set in Trinidad, his place of birth. It is a play that delves into the loss of cultural heritage and tradition, a clash between the old and the new.

Hugh wants real Trinidadian food, like coo-coo to get back that old feeling of what it means to be home but Jean can’t be bothered to make any because she is too busy with her meetings, a point she reiterates when she tell him, “I’m not ya mother younno,” when her husband makes a point about the kitchen having everything they need except food.

However, his new found appetite for the old way of life is satisfied by Elsa (Davina Anderson), the house-help brought in to help make traditional food for Hugh.

Soon we are faced with class divide as shown through the characters of Elsa and Jean, two different women with separate lives. While Jean has lost sight of her history, Elsa is still very much connected to the old way of life and Hugh has rediscovered his passion for that old way of life, which Jean no longer wants for them as a couple.

Dan Barnard succeeds in his ability to bring to light the questions raised by Matura in this reprised production of Meetings. While it does not tug at you emotionally, it is successful in its ability to provoke thought and question us as individuals about the little things in life which we sometimes take for granted such as family, identity and heritage.

Image: Trini Jungle Juice.com

Pure Gold (Soho Theatre October 2007)

The blue London skyline serves as the scenic backdrop for Simon’s desire to provide for his family. Written by Michael Bhim and directed by Indhu Rubasingham and the return of Talawa Theatre Company to the stage after two years; Pure Gold is a transparent depiction of the realities of the everyday London life of a man and his struggles to provide for his family.

Simon is doing the best his best to ensure the financial well-being of his family, re-gain the respect of his wife and the approval of his son. However, he also feels cheated by the harsh realities of life that surrounds him, especially the lack of job opportunities.

Faced with limited choices, Simon’s decisions are that of a man who will do whatever it takes to be counted as a man in the eyes of those he loves but will his decisions also cost him the respect he is fighting so hard to gain?

A gritty examination of the daily frustrations of life, which culminates in the domestic violence and abuse hailed at Marsha (Golda Rosheuvel) from Simon (Clarence Smith) with their son, Anthony (Louis Ekoku) caught in the middle.

This bold take on one man's struggles with poverty through the eyes of the up-and-coming playwright, Michael Bhim, is compelling and powerful. His ability to take a subject matter that permeates throughout society as it deals with the everyday life and situation of a family shows great promise for this young writer with his first full length play.

The play brings to the surface questions such as, does money really make you important and is life about the choices we make as it reverts back to the old notion of what makes a man.

Pure Gold is an intense and delightful production for anyone who can understand the challenges and set backs of getting by in today’s fast pace world and reiterates that gold comes at a price. It is a snapshot of life and its present day realities.

Image: Richard H. Smith

Shows Through Time

The stage for all its faults is also a strong place for telling it like it is and having no need to apologise.

I have seen a few productions in the years past, even prevous year that have stayed with me for the right reasons. If you are yet to see 'Da Kink In My Hair', I beg you, make time the next time you find out its in town. It will lift your spirit and make you laugh. Trey Anthony is a prolific writer. She knows how to speak to the heart of women.

They are women telling their stories and they tell a good story that is ebullient and thought-provoking.

'The Brothers' by Angie Lamar, helps to understand how men think.

Now if you have never heard of 'TownShip Stories', one words sums it up, Gritty. Just sheer gritty realism.

There were provocative and powerful.

Selah!

Image: http://www.treyanthony.com/1_1-overview.php

What Makes Theatre Great?

"I deliberately look for colourful people. They're are very right for theatre. Theatre has to be theatrical" - Lanford Wilson

CHARACTERS

If you enjoy anything that stimulates the mind then we have something in common. For me, its theatre. There's something about it which makes it so different to other forms of art. Yes, its live, direct and in you face but its the sheer factor that it is life for all its reality, yet it is not real.

Ever wondered what playwrights think about when they create the characters we come to know for those few hours we sit with them, get to know them, sympathise with them and then fall in love with them if we like them. If not, we are more than hapy to see them go to the gallows.

I imagine its like the process of pregnanacy, just less physical and emotional. As a playwright, you carry a character inside you from the stage of conception and then give birth. Same way, you become a lunatic as you hit the keys, puncnhing those words out and soimetimes, you find you have to say those words out loud; inorder to get a feel and rythmn of what they sound like. Guess what, you become a lunatic for them. Poeple even laugh at you and think you have gone crazy. I know, it has happened to me and still does. I talk to myself on the bus and a little while back, a friend asked me why I was having a converstaion with myself? Though my lips were not moving, the characters had me engrossed deep in converstion and I forgot about my immediate surrondings. They had my full and undivided attention.

Same way, an established playright has a relationship with their characters. It is one of the tricks to creating colourful characters. To know them like you know yourself. However, you must also be able to let them breathe and walk on their own. That's why you have to seperate yourself from them and let them tell their story. Like you would let go of your children, when you know its time to stop babysitting them.

Characters are human beings in play, they have a mind and a will. A personality and can their own decisions. They live like we do. They are vicarious about life and if they are dull and boring, they are not afarid to let it show either. Characters are who they are.

Writing my play has meant a lot of thinking and I am yet to scracth the surface of what makes a great masterpeiece. I get nervous that I am might be going down the route of melodrama but if I don't let it flow like it is now, then how will I be able to correct myself and avoid the melodrama I hate in theatre productions?

Time to get back to the paper right before amd write those words ike tomorrow is the day it gives birth to itself on the live stage.